The Green Menace: Unraveling Russia's elite discourse on enabling and constraining factors of renewable energy policies

Against the background of a global energy transition, resource-rich Russia embarked on renewable energy policies (REPs). Having set a renewable goal of 4.5% in the electricity mix (2009), Russia’s government introduced support schemes on the wholesale (2013) and retail (2015) electricity markets. This raises the question of how Russia’s elite explain this rollout of REPs, as a global shift towards renewables may threaten hydrocarbon exports. Common drivers – security of supply and ecological considerations – seem unconvincing given Russia’s substantial fossil fuel reserves and limited implementation of international climate change agreements. Building on a self-compiled database of 395 Russian texts dealing with renewable energy, this article maps Russia’s elite discourse through argument comparison between actors, audiences and over time. By doing so it critically assesses resource-geographic, financial, institutional and ecological enabling and constraining factors. The article concludes that the main elite arguments for REPs are as an attempt to avert the green menace by establishing a Russia-based RE industry. This would ensure that the country catches up with global technological development and allows Russia to remain an important energy power through diversification towards RE exports. Climate change arguments are mainly used abroad in order to demonstrate Russia’s efforts in meeting international obligations.

Publication year:2018

BOF-keylabel:yes

IOF-keylabel:yes

BOF-publication weight:6

CSS-citation score:2

Authors from:Higher Education

Accessibility:Closed